Row over will after suicide sister, 87, left estate to GP's daughter

Lucie Rose killed herself days after she changed her will to leave her
£250,000 bungalow to her doctor's daughter

Lucie Rose (R)pictured with sister Elke SchmaingPhoto: Newsteam

By Agencies

10:17AM GMT 06 Jan 2014

A row has broken out between the family of a pensioner who killed herself days after she changed her will to leave her £250,000 bungalow to her GP's daughter.

Lucie Rose, 87, was found dead at her home on November 27, 2010, 11 days after her husband John, died of cancer, aged 86.

She originally left her entire estate to her two surviving sisters living in Germany.

But solicitors acting on behalf of Mrs Rose's estate discovered she cut her siblings out of her will shortly before she died.

Mrs Rose named 23-year-old Sharnika Pillai - the daughter of her doctor Dr Chittaranjan Pillai - as one of two beneficiaries.

Dr Pillai, a GP at the Plains View Surgery in Mapperley, Notts., treated Mrs Rose and her husband for many years before her death.

A financial advisor was also named in the will.

Mrs Rose's family are understood to have reached an agreement with the financial advisor but her sister Elke Schmaing, 69, is demanding an investigation into the new will.

She claims her sister was not of sound mind when she signed the new will.

She said: "I just want justice, I can't believe what has happened. I've known my sister for a lifetime and this wasn't like her."

File notes from the solicitors who drew up the new will reveal Mrs Rose wanted to leave her bungalow in Mapperley to Dr Pillai, 63.

The notes say she wanted to leave her home - worth around £250,000 - "to her doctor" but the final will left it to his daughter.

The notes state: "She [Mrs Rose] has decided to leave the property and all its contents and her late husband's car to her doctor at Plains View Surgery."

The file notes also say that Mrs Rose was of "sound mind", yet they begin with Mrs Rose making reference to her sisters in Germany, and by the end of the notes she is quoted as saying she had "no living relatives".

An inquest into Mrs Rose's death also raised concerns over the handling of the case. Nottinghamshire Coroner Mairin Casey criticised police for losing Mrs Rose's suicide note.

A verdict of suicide was recorded but Mrs Casey blasted Nottinghamshire Police for "shoddiness".

In her summary at that inquest Ms Casey said: "There may well have been a suggestion that she and perhaps her husband were vulnerable to influence from an outside third party."

But she stated that she made "no finding on this issue" and agreed with the professionals - including Dr Pillai - that Mrs Rose was of sound mind when she made the new will.

Plain Views Surgery is currently under investigation by NHS England over "medicine management" in relation to Mrs Rose.

Dr Doug Black, medical director for NHS England Derby and Nottinghamshire Area Team, said: "Following the inquest into the death of a patient at Mapperley Plains Surgery, NHS England Derby and Nottinghamshire Area Team have been undertaking an investigation into the governance of medicines management at this practice.

"As with any investigation we undertake, if evidence demonstrates service standards are not being met, NHS England will take action to determine why.

"If concerns are identified which require external investigation these will be reported and NHS England will lend its full cooperation to any other investigation."

Nottinghamshire Police have apologised to the family for losing Mrs Rose's suicide note.

Inspector Gail Hart, from Carlton Police Station, said: "The note left by Lucie Rose was regrettably lost in our systems and we apologise for the distress this may have caused her family.

"We carried out a full investigation into Lucie Rose's death and passed the case file to the coroner."

In a statement by Plains View Surgery, said: "Dr Pillai and the doctors and staff at Plains View Surgery would like to take this opportunity to pass on their sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mrs Rose.

"We have engaged fully with the NHS England investigation and given that it has yet to be concluded, together with issues in relation to patient confidentiality, it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further."